hector

Rockcastle can flat out put the ball in play. Coach Bussell can coach with the best of them.

Thanks hardball and Lefty for the info.

What are the dates?

Danville will beat Mercer Somerset will beat Wayne Rock will beat Boyle West will beat SW Sset will beat Danville West will beat Rock Sset will beat West for the Championship

Lex. Cath. and Dunbar are playing in the District Championship game this week. Barring any upsets they will probably be playing again in the Region Finals. (I do not know the status of available pitching but for the sake of discussion): If both teams have their aces available for the district championship would you pitch them in this game or would you wait and not show them to the other team until the Region finals?

:thumb: I agree

Wow I thought Corbin would Roll through the District and Region.

They need to leave things as they are. The 43rd district is the toughest in the state. In fact if you can win this district then you can win the state. Tates Creek is a quality program but they were not good enough this year to get out of their district. The region is not always composed of the top 8 teams. This is true in a lot of regions around the state. Lincoln Co. is a top 8 team in the 12th region but they are not in the regional tournament this year.

You are correct there is no KHSAA rule on the number of pitches a kid can throw.

I have heard these two stories: Years ago my dad coached and I have heard him tell the story of a ball that was hit down the left field line and he said chalk flew and the umpire called FOUL BALL. When dad went to argue The Umpire said " It hit the foul line so its a foul ball. If it was a fair ball then they would call it a fair line" I also heard from a coach here recently that an umpire called a Foul Ball on a ball that hit the line because in the umps opinion it hit the foul side of the line.

I had never heard that before. Thanks for sharing.

The Coaching staff is responsible or in this case they are irresponsible.

When will they draw?

:thumb:

I agree the draw will be Key. I would go with 1)Danville, 2)Boyle, 3)Somerset I think anyone of these teams could win it. 4) Mercer, 5) Rock I think could win two games if the draw goes their way Wayne and SW will be one and done.

Great question and one I have never seen happen. Ground rule double or Foul ball would be the choices. I would go with foul ball. My reasoning would be that if the ball hit Home plate and went into the dugout it would be a foul ball. And I would classify home plate and the pitchers rubber as being the same in this situation.

It should have been called foul.

Umpiring is a tough job and more often than not one side is going to be mad. When I first started umping several years ago there was team that was up by 9 runs, they had been at bat for what seemed like 30 minutes. There was a close play at third and I called the kid out so we could get the inning over with. The other team came back and won that game. I said right then I would never do that again. ( call a kid out that was safe to make the game end quicker) I can honestly say that I have never done that since. I have played the game, I have coached the game, and now I umpire the game. Sometimes I just miss a strike/ ball call. If I got them all correct I wouldn't be doing HS I would be working in ball parks where hotdogs are $4.75 While the rulebook does a good job of outlining the strike zone, In practice there are different strike zones. If I used the my varsity strike zone in the 9-10 year old little league they would never get past the 2nd inning. And if i used my 9-10 year old strike zone ( nose to toes) in a varsity game they would run me out of town ( and rightfully so). But by nature most umps adjust their strike zone to the situation. As a matter of fact coaches that I talk to want a bigger strikezone in JV games than the Varsity game. So I try to do this. I agree consistancy is the key and it would be great if all the umps were on the same page. But what one ump considers a ball the next ump may consider it a strike. Players have to adjust to what the ump is calling. And in games that are out of hand, when an ump expands his strike zone the players usually know it after the first batter and need to adjust. I have enjoyed reading this thread and getting insite from "the other side" Your points are very valid. And I will keep them mind the next time I am tempted to expand the strike zone in a blowout. When ever I walk off the field and people tell me I did a good job you can guarentee that that there were two good pitchers on the mound that game.

You are probably correct in all that you posted here. And in a perfect world this is how it should be.

I agree with you it should be called a strike if he catches it or not. I have called plenty of strikes that have gone to the backstop because the catcher was lazy and did not catch the ball. The same thing goes for a breaking ball in the dirt that passed through the strike zone . Usually this makes the fans go crazy. Some umps will not call it because they dont want to Look bad.

I dont think they could say it was outside by 1/2" or 1/8" or 3/4" but I think they could say it was outside by a fraction. I can see that a ball just barely missed. And in games that one team is way ahead these pitches become strikes when I am behind the plate.

First off a few inches off the black is not borderline and Should be called a ball. A 1/2 inch is borderline.

You cant disagree with me on the bold part of the because I agree with you on that. 2 or 3 " makes it an obvious ball and I would not call that a strike. Umps that do that are probably trying to just get the game over with. What I am talking about is a pitch that is borderline 1/2".

I do not take offense to your comments. As a matter of fact I agree with you that coaches should coach and umps should ump. I don't know what I said that gave the impression that I was trying to coach while umpiring. Right or wrong ( and probably wrong) in games in which one team gets way ahead the strike zone will widen. Its the same in basketball when one team is way ahead and refs ignore a walk, or over the back, or in football when a game is out of hand and an official will ignore a player lining up offsides. I know this is slightly different but I have heard coaches tell the umpires "to have a big strike zone for JV games"

Action is only created by players that swing the bats. I guess we just have to agree to disagree. Because you say you dont want your kids swinging at non strikes but I wanted my kids protecting the plate which meant swinging at borderline pitches.